Fiery solo crash on Orinda road kills East Bay woman
ORINDA >> A Pleasanton woman died early Monday after losing control of her car and running off a rural bypass road, the California Highway Patrol said.
The crash happened at about 12:20 a.m. on San Pablo Dam Road, just north of Bear Creek Road, the CHP said. Authorities did not immediately identify the 33-year-old woman, pending notification of her relatives.
According to the CHP, the woman was driving a 2013 Kia Optima away from Interstate 80 toward Orinda when veered right off the roadway, through a metal guardrail and down a steep embankment. It also hit several trees, the CHP said. The car ended up in a creek bed.
The crash started a fire in the 500 block of San Pablo Dam Road that Moraga- Orinda firefighters extinguished.
The Kia appeared to
have been going about 70 mph, according to CHP officers at the scene, and a friend was following her on San Pablo Dam Road.
The woman does not appear to have been wearing her seat belt. She was thrown from the Kia and died at the scene, the CHP said.
“The impact was very violent, which indicates that there was a lot of speed involved,” CHP Sgt. Todd
Fetterly said. “Additionally, there’s no skid marks, so there was no evasive action taken so that may explain why the impact was so severe.”
The CHP said no other cars played a factor in the crash, and that an autopsy will determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved. Officers at the scene do not believe they were, the CHP said.